Designing "The Wizard of Oz" for Dumb People
by Theatremouse
Summary: Okay, more of an essay really but hey it's factual and realitivly interesting


A/N: Okay, I had no clue where to put this. This is more of an instruction guide than anything else.  
  
ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT  
  
PERFORMING  
  
THE WIZARD OF OZ  
  
To begin with, this was an assignment in my theatre class, we were told to research and design a Broadway musical, and being an Oz fan I jumped on it. I knew that very rarely does a production do well, the last really good one that has been seen was the one with Mickey Rooney back in 1998. But I decided to find out why.  
  
The first Wizard of Oz tour was back during the 50^th anniversary of the movie; the flashy show opened at Radio City Music Hall (coincidentally, Disney's wonderful yet horribly failed movie "Return to Oz" premiered). In it, they used pre-recorded dialogue, and had many complaints, like the Munchkins are two feet taller than Dorothy; also Glinda sprouted gigantic butterfly wings and the Wicked Witch of the West sported a red plumed pilgrim hat and matching costume. The show closed after a 17-city run.  
  
The next one was even worse, in 1994, Musicals America of Rhode Island, while more successful than the former, it had many flaws, the cyclone was missing, Munchkinland turned out to be a painted backdrop, Dorothy was way to old, and the Wizard's head looked like a giant Elmer Fudd puppet. Although it did earn bonus points when the Lullaby League and Lollipop Guild turned out to be life size marionettes.  
  
The next tour was totally different, rather than doing the Disney movie on Ice, we were treated to the 1996-1999 multi-million dollar production of "The Wizard of Oz on Ice", which was highly successful, but had some flaws, most were disappointed when they discovered the skaters (Except Dorothy) were merely lip-syncing to Bobby McFerrin's pre-recorded voice. They did utilize a fly track but only for the Wicked Witch and the Wizard's balloon, and drew out the Poppy Field and Emerald City scenes far too long to showcase the skating. It did have some plus sides, the sets returned to the early days of the original 1902 Wizard of Oz with sets that looked like sets, showing us the original theatre style. Dorothy's farmhouse was on a wagon that during the tornado scene traveled along the rink, while an inflated windsock (I think) designed like a tornado twirled the house around, and they used a very cool giant hourglass, and Witch's castle set that moved. The most recent one, which  
was mentioned earlier, was a reprisal of Paper Mill Playhouse's early 1990's production that was reduced to 90-minutes to keep children's attention spans.  
  
Now then, during my research, I came across a section of Beyond the Rainbow's website called "We're off to stage the Wizard" that featured ways to do the show on a small budget as well as information on the above shows (which was where most of it came from) as well as short summaries of the two versions available. With that in mind I went to Tams-Whitmark's website, and did some more checking. The two versions have been given nicknames. I'll begin with the oldest.  
  
The librettist, Frank Gabrielson first adapted it in the 1940's, however it strayed far from the movie. While all the original songs are there, he added in a new song called "Evening Star" which will be discussed in just a second or two. It opens traditionally in Kansas before moving to Oz, however once there it really isn't Kansas anymore. The Munchkins appear briefly before Dorothy opens the door for comic relief. Glinda and the Witch do appear in Munchkinland, but not at the same time, leaving no conflict. Dorothy must wait until after she meets the Scarecrow to meet the munchkins. And the "Jitterbug" instead of poppies, which Glinda freezes the bugs to save our heroes. In Emerald City we are introduced to the first new character, Gloria, the Wizard's daughter, who sings the "Merry Ol' Land Of OZ!" Followed by that is "Evening Star" a new song that in actuality is very beautiful, but doesn't fit in Oz, as Dorothy sings it, causing the men to swoon. The next major twist is  
when the Witch sends out her skeleton servant Tibia to get Dorothy. During this time she has tea with her two witch friends Mombi (A Baum creation) and Sarah, and rather than a crystal ball, she uses a magic mirror, (Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who's the plagerist among us all???), and rather than melting, she attempts to shrink Dorothy out of her shoes by placing her in magic water, the plan backfires and she is pushed in. The thing that identifies this one the most is rather than a hot air balloon, the Wizard departs in a ROCKET SHIP!!!!! Most people's strong hatred for it comes here, and I don't blame them. This one was written for the St. Louis Municipal Opera House or the MUNY, and hence when referred to it is called the MUNY version. This one is cheaper to produce, but isn't very well liked.  
  
The other version was written back in 1986 by John Kane of the Royal Shakespeare Company (the RSC) and was performed in 1987. The orchestrations were re-created including background and incidental music by the late Larry Wilcox, and are beautiful (I can vouch for that) but require a large (and I do mean large, of around 75-80 people) chorus. It follows the MGM screenplay almost verbatim, with some slight changes and add-ins. The special effects and costume/set changes are horrendous. Aunt Em has also now become Glinda, and beware those who are double cast properly, you have about 3 minutes to get out of the Glinda costume and make-up back into Aunt Em and then even less to get back into Glinda for curtain call. The Wicked Witch's part is slightly enlarged when she is given several new lines, most of which do not go over well in America because the lines are for comic effect, and well the Witch is supposed to be scary! The other change is rather than having the Scarecrow, Tin  
Man, Cowardly Lion and of course Toto, climb mountains to get to Dorothy, they instead decide, that the only way out of the castle is down the side of the mountain which the Lion intends to jump out of, while the others hold onto his tail. Another common thing that people will do, is have Toto upon arrival in Munchkinland become an actor in a costume prompting Dorothy to say "I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." This doesn't quite work, even trailing along behind them it looks funny, it looks even worse when he gets up on his hind legs and skips with them during "Off to See the Wizard." (Shudder, cringe) This one while more popular is much more expensive, so if you can only afford the former, do not mix the movie dialogue in with it, it works poorly, and will probably ruin what respect people have for this version.  
  
And now, on to the present topic: designing the show.  
  
I'll start with sets. I knew kind of where I wanted to go with it, movie-oriented and very amazing, but not overdone; a very hard task indeed. I'd been given an amazing book called "The Wizardry of Oz" by William Stillman and Jay Scarforne; the beautiful book contains close-up of costumes, original set blueprints and pictures of props and backdrops. I also had at my disposal, a copy of the script from the 50^th Anniversary with more pictures than I knew where available, and the 50^th Anniversary book, that had more Munchkin costume pictures. So I sat to work. I decided first to do the sets, as they would be easier, and I need to pick up more map pencils. I sat down and did a scene breakdown by act, from there I though of, what is required for the scenes, and what was in the movie. It is as follows:  
  
ACT ONE  
  
KANSAS: Farmhouse SL  
  
Corn SR and SL  
  
Windmill SR  
  
Barn façade SR  
  
Wagon with hay SR  
  
Drop  
  
PROF. MARVEL: Bridge and Farm Road SL  
  
Wagon SR  
  
Campfire SR  
  
Drop  
  
MUNCHKINLAND: Destroyed Farmhouse façade SR  
  
Yellow Brick Road Center  
  
Butterfly bush façade SL  
  
Civic Centre Back center  
  
Munchkin Houses façades SR and SL  
  
Drop  
  
CORN FIELDS: Cornstalks SR and SL  
  
Scarecrow's pole Center  
  
Fence Center  
  
Hay bales (rectangular) about  
  
Yellow Brick Road pieces (On casters)  
  
Drop  
  
APPLE ORCHARD: Tin Man's Cottage façade SL  
  
Woodpile façade SL  
  
Apple Trees (some façades others not) about  
  
Yellow Brick Road pieces about  
  
Drop  
  
WILD FOREST: SL and SR Tree façades  
  
"Magic" tree (will be explained later) Center  
  
Rock pile façade SL  
  
Yellow Brick Road pieces about  
  
Drop  
  
POPPY FIELD: Yellow Brick Road ramp center  
  
Poppy façades overlap from SL and SR  
  
Snow Clouds (with snow bags) above  
  
Emerald City façade Back Center (Hidden)  
  
ACT TWO:  
  
EMERALD CITY: Gate façade (Lifts or rolls up/off)  
  
Wall façades Across Back  
  
Wash and Brush Up Co. façade SL  
  
Dais Center  
  
THRONE ROOM: Throne on dais Center  
  
Control Booth SL  
  
Drops and curtains about  
  
JITTER FOREST: "Magic" tree SR  
  
Tree façade SL  
  
Hidden ramps SR and SL  
  
Sign Center  
  
Drop  
  
WITCH'S CASTLE: Platform with door and step unit SR  
  
Dais with crystal ball, chair and table attached Center  
  
Platform with Window SL  
  
Back wall Back  
  
Hanging grate Above  
  
Drapes and Columns about  
  
From there, I took a journal and sketched on notebook paper my first ideas, then I transferred it onto printer paper, and finally from there onto fine quality sketchbook paper. I included several unique items. While there is a fly track, there is a limit to how many can be on one at the same time. To ease this, 4 of the flying monkeys and Dorothy are attached to it; the others are on cleverly disguised roller blades, and they "fly" down the aisles and off the ramps. Another thing I added was a "magic" tree, which was actually a tree with a piece of scrim (a really neat cloth that can be painted and looks solid, but when lit from behind becomes see-through!) over where a face would be, that revealed the Wicked Witch watching her crystal ball. The final "new" touch were arcs, painted like the Yellow Brick Road that could be moved for each scene, also, for the Emerald City I took a leaf out of Oz on Ice's book and had gobos (pieces of metal with designs cut in them that you  
attach to lights) and gels (colored plastic that changes the color of light) to create an end of the famous road that went a little way in to Emerald City. While in actuality, it would have meant big bugs to build, with a model of each done on a mock theatre with card stock, it cost about $45.  
  
Next I moved to costumes. The first thing I did was I got a list of how many Munchkins there were in the movie and what their character specifically did. I then set a number that I wanted (60) and divided it by 124(the original number) to get a fraction and then multiplied all but the ones with a one and the Lullaby League and Lollipop Guild by it (it was like .40....) to get the approximate amount. I rounded down, (I tried and you can't have 4.2 people on stage without making a mess). I did the same for the Emerald City Citizens, and designed costumes accordingly. My final breakdown is as follows:  
  
* Dorothy Gale  
* Auntie Em  
* Uncle Henry  
* Hunk  
* Zeke  
* Hickory  
* Miss Gultch  
* Professor Marvel  
* 10 Tornado Dancers  
* Glinda, the Good Witch of the North  
* The Wicked Witch of the West  
* Munchkins:  
  
* 2 Fiddlers  
* Braggart  
* 2 Townsmen (1^st and 2^nd)  
* Deaf Man  
* Mayor of Munchkinland  
* 2 City Fathers (1^st and 2^nd)  
* Barrister  
* Coroner  
* Bearded Man  
* Town Crier  
* Lullaby League (3)  
* Lollipop Guild (3)  
* Munchkin General  
* 3 Soldiers  
* 2 Hearlders  
* 2 Trumpeters  
* 22 Various Men  
* 11 Various Women  
  
* Scarecrow  
* 4 Crows  
* 10 Apple Trees  
* Tin Man  
* Cowardly Lion  
* 20 Poppies  
  
* 5 white  
* 5 pink  
* 10 red  
  
Snowflakes  
  
10 Men  
  
10 Women  
  
Guardian of the Gates  
  
Emerald City Citizens:  
  
6 Men Shopkeepers  
  
5 Men Street Venders  
  
7 Gentlemen  
  
6 Shopkeepers Wives  
  
7 Gentlemen's Wives  
  
7 Girls ages 18-25  
  
4 Beauticians  
  
11 Assorted Women  
  
5 Nun-esque women  
  
6 Various  
  
26 Assorted Men  
  
6 Polishers/ Stuffers  
  
The Wizard of Oz  
  
Nikko  
  
4 Jitter Forest Monsters  
  
20 Jitterbugs  
  
Nikko  
  
18 Flying Monkeys  
  
Leader of the Winkies  
  
20 Winkie Guards  
  
After that, I drew the basic concepts onto paper, and mounted the ones I liked. I labeled what kind of material I wanted, then went and got swatches from a local fabric store, and attached them as well as the prices, location and phone number of where I got them.  
  
Really and truly, this was the hardest part, presenting was the neatest, we were required to make one of the costumes, so I decided I'd make my Scarecrow costume, which was easier than it looked, as well as give a visual walkthrough. I filmed mine since I took the model route, but brought in all of my research and steps. Being the nice person I am, I decided to post this, as a help tool for those who are about to or thinking about doing "The Wizard of Oz." I must ask that you don't use my ideas for sets and or costumes (using how I did it i.e. format or the formula, feel free, but the ideas are mine!) I really hope this was either an interesting read or a handy dandy tool to use.  
  
Bibliography:  
  
[1]http://www.beyondtherainbow2oz.com/stagethewizard.html Helped me give the majority of my information on the different tours and scripts.  
  
[2]http://www.tams-whitmark.com The theatre library that owns the rights to "Oz" will send script and piano score for both versions to review  
  
The Wizardry of Oz by Jay Scarforne and William Stillman. Got my design concepts from them as well as the number of Munchkins and Emerald City Citizens in the movie  
  
References  
  
1. http://www.beyondtherainbow2oz.com/stagethewizard.html  
2. http://www.tams-whitmark.com/ 


End file.
